Members of the research team

An experiment on a NIF Discovery Science research project was conducted by Dr. N. Iwata (Associate Professor, ILE) and the team at the National Ignition Facility (NIF) of Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in the United States. We used the ARC laser which is a high intensity laser having the world's highest output energy.

This research is a Japan-US international collaboration on high energy density plasma physics. The experiment was adopted by Discovery Science program (Research title "Lateral confinement of fast electrons and its impact on laser ion acceleration", PI: N. Iwata). Discovery Science is a NIF's open call program for basic science experiments, in which experimental studies on plasma physics, space and planetary science, and materials science using lasers at NIF have been proposed from around the world. Our experiment is based on a theoretical paper that found a self-confinement mechanism of electrons in laser-produced plasmas. We expect that high energy ion acceleration with a high efficiency can be achieved by the electron confinement. The result will contribute to laser plasma physics and applications using laser-driven energetic ions such as laser fusion and radiography of high density plasmas.

News from: https://www.ile.osaka-u.ac.jp/eng/2023/07/18/discovery-science-laser-experiment-at-nif/index.html